"Fire at will," a command that to me means living independently and in the moment. I’m currently living and working in Germany after a year spent studying abroad in this foreign country. I invite you to share in my experience and in my zeal for life, hopefully along the way developing your own desire to live in the moment and to explore this fascinating planet. It’s a fast paced world out there, so double-knot your shoes and try to keep up with me as I fire at will.

18 July 2007

A few days ago marked goodbye celebrations and parties for the foreign students, as well as for my birthday.

The day began with AK International taking around 30 students, mostly foreigners but also some Germans, out for a canoe trip on the Altmühl. This mostly lazy river winds through Eichstätt and eventually empties into the Danube down by Ingolstadt. However the occasional man-made damn or flood control measures provided a few challenges. As you can see in the pictures below, we spent a little bit of the time in the water. In my canoe were Dylan and Paulina, who is from France. Paulina is seen in the last of the three photos below.

In the evening there was a farewell grill party for the foreign students. That was the official reason anyway. Unofficially it was also my birthday party.

In this photo from left to right is Albert (Russia), Alexi (France), Dylan, and Paulina.

Here we have Hannah and Emily, both from America.

This is me after receiving a surprise birthday cake. Apparently this was the second cake that was bought. The first was eatten by an American girl who wasn't aware of its intention and thought it was another food item brought for the party.

In the foreground of this photo is Kerstin on the left, one of the leaders of AK International, and Jiashu (China) on the right. I really don't know the two people in the background too well.

Mariko (Japan) and Faye (China) smile wide in the picture.

And here Annabel (Germany) stares down Matt (America).

After the party a few of us continued celebrating in the Theke, which gave us a free bottle of a German champagne-like drink because it was my birthday. So all in all it was a good day to have my birthday.